December 15, 2006
WEEI-NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon inspires major gift to combat cancer
(Left to right) Jimmy Fund Chair Mike Andrews, WEEI's Dale Arnold, donor Ralph Bates, and WEEI's Michael Holley
While it certainly would have been exciting, maybe it's a good thing that retired businessman Ralph Bates of the North Shore area of Massachusetts didn't call in his recent gift to Dana-Farber during the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon held last August. Asked to take a pledge of $1 million, the volunteer who took his call just might not have believed him.
The 5th annual event raised a record-breaking $2.9 million and inspired Bates to make a call to the Jimmy Fund after the fact to see how he could help.
It was on the Dale & Holley Show during the Aug. 18 radio-telethon that Bates heard co-host Dale Arnold talk about visiting the Jimmy Fund Clinic. "If you ever visited there, you'd see where the money is being used and you'd see how important it was," Arnold said. That made Bates decide to call Mike Andrews, chairman of the Jimmy Fund and someone Bates knew from many years before.
Andrews decided that what Arnold suggested – a visit to the Jimmy Fund Clinic – would be exactly the thing to let Bates know about the work going on at Dana-Farber and how he could make a major difference.
His tour of Dana-Farber reinforced the strong feelings Bates had experienced listening to the many moving stories broadcast during the day-long radio-telethon, and prompted him to travel down to the WEEI studio Friday and present a check to Andrews on the air during a "Dale and Holley" broadcast.
Half of Bates' $1 million gift will establish the Ralph E. Bates Cancer Research and Technology Fund and the other half will support construction of Dana-Farber's new Center for Cancer Care, a 13-story, 275,000-square-foot structure designed for clinical care and scheduled to open in 2011.
"As scientists, we now understand that the basis of cancer lies in genetic abnormalities," explained Dana-Farber Chief Scientific Officer Barrett Rollins, MD, PhD, who will direct the Bates fund. "In order to translate that knowledge into new treatments and potential cures for cancer patients, a huge investment in technology has to take place. Gifts like Mr. Bates' drive this," he added.
